The invention relates to the field of insect repellents and specifically to personal area repellents.
Personal insect repellents, such as DEET-containing lotions and sprays, are commonly applied directly to the skin of a user. DEET and certain other active ingredients are recognized in the art as efficacious when so used. However, these personal insect repellents, while they may discourage mosquitoes from landing on treated surfaces, typically do not actually repel the mosquitoes from the area, even from the area directly surrounding a user. Furthermore, to be effective, a user's exposed skin must be directly treated, and some users find such a treatment to be aesthetically unsatisfactory.
The art is also generally aware of treated wrist bands, patches and other treated materials to be worn or otherwise applied to a user's skin or clothing to repel mosquitoes. These have commonly employed citronella as a repellent and purport not just to keep mosquitoes from landing on treated skin but actually to repel mosquitoes from the area immediately surrounding a wearer, thus seeking to prevent bites without the need for applying a lotion or spray to the skin.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,282 teaches the use of patches attachable to clothing or limbs that disperse citronella. This patent also describes using adhesives and hook and loop type materials for attachment purposes, and describes that the pouch could alternatively be in the form of a band worn by the user. Also, it describes an impregnated substrate which is a nonwoven thermoplastic. However, these devices have not proved to be practically effective to protect a user wearing them from close approach by mosquitoes and other insects.
Use of transfluthrin, vaporthrin, and/or DDVP to control insects via passive evaporation (without requiring heating of a substrate or blowing air) is known in the context of room insect control. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,714. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,079 which describes use of, among other things, transfluthrin for passive room insect control.
Having metofluthrin or profluthrin passively evaporate and control insects for room control is known from U.S. patent application publication 2004/0134999.
The art is also aware of commercially available, repellent/insecticide-treated clothing and bed nets. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,892 describes impregnating clothing with varied repellents, albeit in a slow release repellent mix. However, the repellents used in such devices are often not effective in keeping insects away from a consumer (as opposed to minimizing landing time).
The art is also aware of wearable devices for achieving personal area repellency, using treated substrates subjected to heat and/or air moved by a fan or similar means over or through a treated substrate. These devices can be efficacious, although they require an energy source and inevitably have a size and bulk that a user must be willing to tolerate.
Hence, the art has not yet optimized means of providing repellency protection to a consumer, particularly with respect to avoiding use of energy consuming devices, bulky devices, or large devices.